Chapter 36

Icy Touchdown

Author's Note: Sorry that this took so long, but I have a good reason. I was playing the Gears of War 3 beta and I kind of lost track of time. Seriously, I did way better than I ever did in Gears 2 (I sucked). I actually have a positive ratio. The retro lancer is pretty sweet, as are a lot of the new guns, the digger launcher and the one shot in particular. Can't say I'm a fan of the sawn off shotgun, you have to be standing right next to someone in order to do any damage, you get one shot, and it takes 8 seconds to reload, give me the gnasher any day. So yeah, if you happen to own bulletstorm, I recommend playing the beta the second you finish this chapter, if you pre ordered Gears 3, trust me, the wait will be worth it. Oh yeah, I had to work too.

Two weeks later

"I trust that you are settling in well?" In the depths of the Eternal Salvation, Marton stood at the entrance to a miniaturized cargo bay, speaking to Jack.

Jack glared at Marton from the makeshift bed she was lying on. "What the fuck did I tell you about coming down here? I like to be alone."

Marton folded his arms. "You've been doing quite a bit of that recently, simply staying in the unused sections of the Salvation."

"Yeah well, blame yourself for having so much free space," Jack said dismissively. "The Hell is up with that anyway?"

"The Salvation serves multiple purposes in addition to that of a capital ship. That is not why I came down though, I wanted to talk to you."

Jack frowned, "Make it quick, I've got better things than sit here and talk to you."

"I highly doubt that. In fact, can not help but notice that you have not done much since you have come onboard this ship."

"Your point?" Jack asked, clearly not in the mood to be talking to Marton.

"I can't have you sapping away at our limited resources without contributing to our cause in some way."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"We're responding to a report from a deep space scout probe. It discovered an ancient starship that predates any known civilization. The technology on that ship could catapult our's forward by centuries. I want you to accompany the ground team."

"Exactly why do you need me?" Jack asked impolitely. "You've got a couple hundred thousand cronies on this ship alone, why not use one of them?"

"None of them are biotic super soldiers," Marton replied simply. "I have no idea what kind of defenses that ship will have, I want to take in a small yet effective team so that we are maneuverable yet deadly. We will arrive in five minutes, you will accompany Wrex and I to the starship and you will provide support should we need it."

"And what if I say no," Jack asked, her voice challenging.

"Then you are no longer welcome on this ship," Marton replied coldly. "I am fighting a rebellion where my forces are massively outnumbered, liabilities are unacceptable."

Jack paused. "Fine," she said, reluctance heavy in her voice.

There was a clang as Marton threw a Blue Sun submachine gun at her feet. "Marauder weapons will most likely be too large for you to properly handle, this is all I have." Jack said nothing as she picked up the gun and flipping the safety off. "Come." Marton gestured to Jack to follow him. Looking as if she would much rather be doing something else, Jack got to her feet and followed Marton.

"So, how long have you been fighting this little insurrection?"

Marton paused a moment before speaking. "Ten years. Sometimes we go entire months without making moves though, mainly so we can reposition ourselves and lure the Empire into a false sense of security." He sighed. "That last one rarely works anymore. It's becoming harder and harder to attack Empire convoys, they almost always have an armed escort nowadays."

"Fascinating," Jack muttered in a tone that suggested that she couldn't care less. "Just one question, why haven't you gone to the UNSC or one of the other galactic powers for help?"

Jack was surprised when Marton let out a bark of laughter. "Very humorous," he said. "Go to the Humans for help? Go to the Sangheili for help? How much have you forgotten in prison? They hate my kind with every fiber of their beings, as soon as they saw our ships they would open fire on us without any hesitation."

"So that's your ingenious plan, take out the Empire so everyone else can come in and kill you all."

Marton's fingers tensed as if they were about to tightened into a fist, but quickly relaxed. "Our current objective is to topple the Emperor's regime and establish a new form of government in it's place. The best that can be hoped for is that peace can be maintained until bridges can be built."

"You honestly expect that a plan that shitty will work?"

"What choice do I have?" Marton snapped, his voice rising. "Go back to Tritus like a misbehaving child and beg for forgiveness? Would you rather I help him wipe out your entire race?"

Jack shrugged. "Do whatever the fuck you want, it's not like I care." Marton gapped at Jack before turning to look in front of him again.

"I need to remain calm," he muttered, speaking so quietly that Jack could not hear him. "I cannot afford to become angry."

The two of them entered the hanger bay, which was packed to the brim with various machines of war, ranging from Ghosts to Banshees, to Wraiths, a massive Scarab that sat isolated in the middle. Jack whistled. "Not bad. You know, you could carve out your own little place in the galaxy with this kind of firepower. Form your own little Empire in the Terminus Systems, build up your own forces." Jack gave a smirk that would send chills down the spine of any sensible Human. "Maybe work your way up."

"Interesting concept," Marton said dismissively. "But I would rather put a decades worth of building to good use."

"Suit yourself."

Marton said nothing as he lead Jack to a Phantom where Wrex was waiting, his assault rifle hanging lazily in his hand. "About time you two showed up," he said as the climbed into the drop ship.

"Right," Marton said as the Phantom slowly lifted off of the ground and closed it's doors as flew through the plasma barrier that pressurized the hanger. No sooner had the Phantom left, than it began to rock wildly. "I want this mission to be fast and clean, the ship internal systems should be completely inactive, but as I said earlier there could be some sort of security system that has lasted over the years. Not to mention we have detected signs of life support still functioning, so who knows what else could still be online. All I want you two to do is watch my back while I gather what data I can, any questions?"

"Yeah, why the fuck is this ride so bumpy?"

"The ship is in orbit of a brown dwarf, I can only assume that it's mass effect field is keeping it from being pulled in." As Marton spoke, the Phantom suddenly became still, as if all outside forces had suddenly vanished, they had entered the ship's mass effect field. "I rest my case."

"Marton, are you there?" a voice crackled into Marton's COM unit.

Marton lifted his hand to his ear piece. "I'm here Adolas, what is it?"

"I just ran some more scans on the ship and I picked something up. Another ship has docked with it, the design looks Human, prowler class. For some reason it's stealth systems are offline"

"Human? Adolas can you pick up any life signs?"

"I apologize Marton, I can't get any readings beyond the outer hull of the unknown starship and there isn't any life on the prowler."

Marton sighed. "It doesn't matter Adolas, thank you for the information. Give me an update if you detect anything." Marton lowered his hand as the Phantom neared the ship. It was 15 kilometers long, pitch black with streaks of red, and has several pincers that gave it an aquatic look. The Marauders had no idea of the history of this ship.

XXXXX

On the icy planet of Noveria, a massive blizzard was blazing around Peak 15. This was a particularly brutal blizzard, air craft could not possibly hope to safely fly through. The only remaining way to the facility was through the Aleutsk Valley, a winding path of about 3 miles. While relatively safe in normal conditions, the valley was treacherous during a storm, with those without protective gear dying within seconds.

Despite the hazards, an RSN convoy was making it's way across the valley. Six Demons, an RSN APC capable of holding twenty troopers, made up the center of the convoy, with two Wraiths in front of them and four ghosts behind them. At the head of the convoy was a hulking Scarab that was making it's way forward, the rest of the convoy staying behind it. Every last vehicle was on high alert, scanning the area for possible ambushes which they were sure to encounter.

"I don't like this," Iasa whispered as she stared down the scope of her beam rifle, sweeping the walls of the valley. She was currently in a prone position on the top of the Scarab, just outside of the control room. "The Jiralhanae have the ideal defensive position."

"I understand your concern, but there is no other way to reach the peak." Ramos walked out of the control room and stopped next to Iasa, a fuel rod in hand.

"I understand, Phantoms would crash before they even got close," Iasa muttered. "But could we not simply wait until the blizzard subsides?"

"If that was a possibility, I would do just that. One this planet however, blizzards have been known to last for weeks before even beginning to lessen. There is a 50 ship fleet above this planet comprised of RSN and Union ships, if the Jiralhanae are on this planet, then it's only a matter of time before reinforcements arrive. If we wait, this battle could become long and bloody."

Iasa nodded. "Are we certain that they are using this facility?"

"All records say that Matriarch Benezia is currently using it, and as we know Benezia is a known ally of Saren."

"If that's the case why haven't the corporations contacted the Council?"

"They've been keeping the fact that two high ranking members of their society have gone rouge under wraps. Understandable really, if word got out there might be mass panic."

"Charming," Iasa said dryly. "That would explain why Anoleis was so reluctant to let us deploy." She chuckled. "The look on his face when he realized that we weren't asking him for permission was quite humorous."

"He was rather cooperative after Professor Solus threatened to bring the Council into the matter." As he spoke, Ramos glanced at one of the Demons, which Mordin and the rest of the STG strike force were passengers of.

"That is what he said? I had trouble keeping up with him, I'm trained to hone my eyes not my ears." Ramos was about to speak when his eyes narrowed and he raised his fuel rod. "What is it?"

"Something does not feel right," Ramos whispered.

Before Iasa could react, there was a rushing noise as six balls of plasma hit the Scarab's right front leg, exploding with tremendous force. The Scarab was rocked as it's outer armor was blown away. "AMBUSH!" Ramos roared as several Jiralhanae in pure white armor rose out of the snow at the top of the valley, firing fuel rods at the convoy. Two Ghosts where destroyed by the anti-tank fire, as was one of the Demons and both Wraiths took moderate damage.

Iasa whipped her beam rifle towards the nearest Jiralhanae that she could see and fired off a shot, sending a streak of plasma right through the Jiralhanae's head. The rest of the convoy was also attacked it's ambushers, two balls of bright blue plasma arched overhead and sent bodies of Jiralhanae flying. The plasma turrets of the Demons, Ghosts and the Scarab fired as the head of the Scarab turned to face the cliff. The Scarab's "mouth" opened wide and a bright green beam opened fire, sending several Jiralhanae to their graves.

"Is that it?" Iasa shouted.

"It can't be, the plasma rounds that hit us were too heavy for portable fuel rods." No sooner had Ramos spoken, than another barrage of plasma flew from the top of the cliff, hitting the Scarab's damaged leg. Squinting through the flurries of snow that obstructed her vision, Iasa saw three anti-armor Shades perched behind where the Jiralhanae infantry had just been. Iasa snarled, it appeared that this battle would not be a short one and she doubted that it would be the last she fought on this planet.

XXXXX

Deep within the Terminus systems, within floated the space station Omega. In the inner sections of the station was a club called Afterlife, one of the most popular areas on Omega with thousands of people going in and out each solar day. It was also the unofficial headquarters of Aria T'Loak the self proclaimed ruler of Omega, a claim she was very good at backing up.

Aria was currently sitting at her usual seat at the height of the club, swirling a glass of Asari wine as she watched the dancers slide up the poles in the center of the club, a small smile on her face. She was in a good mood, Eclipse that mercenaries had been planning a hit on her had been tracked down today, as two dozen bullet riddled corpses now floating in the vacuum of space could attest too. As a way of thanking Eclipse for their threat, she had leaked the routes their convoys took to the Blue Suns, and from what she had heard the Blue Suns were making a fortune off of raiding them.

Aria was also particularly satisfied that she had finally taken care of an old problem that had been bothering her for decades. She had received a message from an anonymous source that had given the names of 9 of her people that had been leaking information to the Shadow Broker. Aria smiled, at least the Eclipse mercs would have some company.

"Excuse me," a Batarian said as he walked towards her. "Miss Aria, a ship just entered the system and will reach here in ten minutes. The ship is Jiralhanae."

Aria sighed, not bothering to look at the Batarian. "And I thought that Tritus actually had some manners. Contact the ship and tell them that the answer is no. I have no interest in starting a war with the Council unless I have no choice."

"We've already done so. We have yet to receive a response."

Aria sighed as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a slim communicator. And today had been going so well. "I know you can hear me," she said aggressively into the communicator. "Your boss has already asked me to join you little alliance and my answer hasn't changed. If you were taking on the Council alone you might have won, but there's know way that you can take out this Galatic Alliance that they've formed."

Galatic Alliance, that was the name the alliance that was composed of the UNSC, RSN and the Council. Aria thought that it was rather humorous, their way of life and very existence were being threatened, yet they had still found the time to come up with a name for themselves. Though to be fair, the Jiralhanae and their allies were calling themselves the Coalition of United Races so it wasn't surprising that the Alliance had given itself a name as well. Aria had no intention in getting involved in the war between the Alliance and the Coalition, it was a war that Aria was sure would change the galaxy forever. Weather the changes would be for better or for worse had yet to be seen.

"I don't want to get on your bad side so I'll make you a deal. Turn around and go back from where you came from, and I won't order the defense turrets to shoot you down." Aria paused as she took her communicator away. Something didn't feel right, Tritus had come months ago and had left rather quickly once she had said no, though this was after he had gained the support of the Blood Pack. She had initially been concerned that the Blood Pack on Omega would make a move against her since she had refused to pledge herself to the Coalition, but they were deeply engrossed in a territory war with the Blue Suns. It had recently grown even more violent, with the Blue Suns making massive pushes against the Blood Pack, not stopping even though they were taking heavy losses. Aria suspected that either the Blood Pack or the Coalition had done something to piss the Blue Suns off. Aria resisted the urge to shrug, she really didn't care.

She waited for the Empire ship to reply to her threat, ready to order her men to open fire if they refused to leave. There was no reply. Annoyed, Aria spoke again. "This is your last warning, twenty five loaded missile pods have locked on to your ship, even your advanced shields won't be able to take that kind of punishment. If by some miracle you do survive it though I will deploy warships to obliterate you, so if you want to avoid that I suggest that you turn around." Once again, no response.

"Fine," Aria snarled. "I warned them. Not keeping your threats is how empires collapse. Tell the gun crews to open fire."

"Aria I beg you to reconsider!" the Batarian shouted. "This is an act of war against the Jiralhanae Empire and the rest of the Coalition. You can't possible hope to-"

"Are you questioning my orders?" Aria hissed.

"I...no," the Batarian stuttered, clearly terrified.

"The Empire is in my territory when I specifically told them they weren't welcome. They were the ones who committed an act of war first, and I don't plan on letting them walk all over me. Give the order."

The Batarian hesitated before speaking. "All gun crews, open fire on the Empire cruiser. This is an order from Aria herself." The Batarian paused and Aria felt the faint shudder as the rockets were fired. "The crews are reporting direct hits, the Empire cruiser's shields are down and they've taken heavy damage."

Aria smiled. "Tell them to reload and finish the job."

The Batarian nodded and was about to give the order when a look of shock covered his face. "Please confirm." Aria's eyes narrowed. "Are you certain." All four of the Batarian's eyes widened. "Oh no."

"What?" Aria asked impatiently.

"The Empire cruiser has set an impact course."

"WHAT!" No sooner had Aria spoken than there was a deafening crash and the ground shook violently. "Oh you have got to be shitting me," Aria swore. "Take some men and clean up whoever's left, and try to save what you can while you're at it."

"Understood I'll...wait." The Batarian lifted his hand to his ear again. "I'm getting reports from skirmishers near the crash site, they've engaged hostiles. Say again what are you fighting?" The Batarian cringed as an ear splitting scream shot across his communicator.

"Will somebody tell me what the fuck is going on?" Aria asked angrily. As if you answer her question, an inhuman cry tore through Afterlife. It was an ungodly sound that could be described as the bastard child of a roar and a shriek. Aria felt chills creep down her spine as the cry faded away and something made itself very clear to here. Whatever had crashed that ship wasn't Jiralhanae.

Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait, like I said I was playing Gears of War 3 and I had to work more hours than usual. By the way, I just watched the Arby n Chief season finale. Dear god...I...go watch it right now. John has really outdone himself.

Hm...what else is there to talk about. Well I'm planning on buying Brink when it comes out, anyone else?